NOAA - Jan-Feb 2015 Warmest First Two Months Of Any Year On Record

[hatrack]

We may only be two months into 2015, but already the year is burning up the charts, setting up the possibility that it could topple 2014’s newly minted record for hottest year. Together, January and February were the warmest such period on record, according to global data released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. With an El Niño (albeit a weak one) in place, there’s potential for that warmth to stick around and elevate temperatures for more of the year.

Of course, two months is only a small portion of the year, and it’s impossible to say for sure how the remainder will turn out. But regardless of its final ranking, 2015 will almost certainly be much warmer than most years in the records (which stretch back to 1880), thanks to the steady rise in global temperatures fueled by the unabated release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

January 2015 was the second warmest in NOAA records, as was February as the month checked in at about 1.5°F warmer than the 20th century average for the month. Combined, the first two months of the year were 1.42°F above average and nearly half a degree above the same point last year. February 2014 ranked only as the 21st warmest for the month.

“So we are much warmer for the year to date this year compared with last,” Jessica Blunden, a climate scientist with ERT, Inc., at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, said in an email.

EDIT

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/two-months-in-and-2015-is-record-warm-18790

[GliderGuider]

1. Wouldn't you know it - I live smack in the middle of the only blue spot on the map...

[marym625]

3. Me too! n/t

[Gothmog]

2. The flat earthers will still deny the facts

The facts are clear but the flat earthers and idiots like Inhofe are too stupid to deal with facts

[marym625]

4. But, but, SNOWBALLS!

[randr]

5. Apricot trees blooming 4 weeks early

We depend on a cool March to slow down fruit trees as we normally get an April or even May freeze. With trees in bloom now we will not have any fruit this year as in all likelihood we will get the late freeze.
This will cause sever hardship here in our valley as hundreds of fruit, grape, and other crops will be lost.

[NickB79]

6. That, and mismatched pollinators

If the trees bloom before the bees are fully active to pollinate them.

[randr]

7. Oh the bees are a buzzin

The warm weather also has the bees out and about with not much in the way of pollen to harvest. We just gave them some extra honey to bide them over until full bloom.

[countryjake]

8. And things don't look good for the coming months, not up here in the PNW

Last edited Fri Mar 20, 2015, 06:09 AM - Edit history (1)

Fresh long range forecast: The heat is on... like through next winter? By Scott Sistek ~ March 19, 2015

http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/Fresh-long-range-forecast-The-heat-is-on-like-through-next-winter-296913621.html

There's "relentless"... and then there's the current weather pattern that has had the Pacific Northwest running a meteorological version of months-long fever that still shows no signs of breaking anytime soon.

It's the third Thursday of the month and with it comes the updated 30- and 90-day climate forecast maps for North America from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. And while seeing the big orange blob signifying warmer-than-normal weather has become routine for the West Coast, now it seems we're doubling down on the warmth. I had just written a blog showing that the last time we had such a warm stretch, it started to give way by the following autumn.

But the new maps just issued Thursday seem to think autumn might be too optimistic.

[Bigmack]

12. And I THINK I heard on NPR the other day that snowfall in the Olympic mountains

was 7% of normal, causing Gov. Inslee to declare a drought emergency on the Olympic Peninsula?! 7% seems WAY too low, but that's the number that comes to my old mind when I try to remember the number "they" mentioned in that story! Having grown up in Port Angeles....it's UNBELIEVABLE to contemplate this! Ms Bigmack

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. And the past 12 months are the hottest 12 months on record (from NASA GISS figures)

Putting the monthly figures here into a spreadsheet, to calculate a running 12 month average, the previous peak, for years ending from March to December 2010, in hundreds of a degree celsius above average, was:

65 67.1 68.1 68 67.3 67.1 66.4 67 67.3 66.3

For years ending from August 2014 to February 2015 we have:

65.3 66.1 67.4 66.4 67.3 67.9 70.9

[GliderGuider]

10. Gee, is that a TREND I see?

Well shiver me timbers!

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Yep, no surprise there; here's the complete record:

First time it's broken 70/100ths of the long term average (figure drop to 0 after this month, hence the vertical line).

[phantom power]

13. Yeah but some guy made a snowball in that dark blue bit, so it's all good